Sealing member



1956 P. s. SUSSENBACH 2,772,903

SEALING MEMBER Filed Jan. 17. 1951 I? 9 9 mmmmmmw I9 mum United States PatentO SEALING MEMBER Paul S. Sussenbach, Brentwood, Mo., assignor, by mesne f assignments, to American-Marietta Company, Chicago,

' 11]. a corporation of Illinois Application January 17, 1951, Serial No. 206,358

1 Claim. (Cl. 288-20) tends as a preservative against leakage and corrosion.

This invention provides for internalsealing of such openings in a novel way. Briefly, the sealing member of the invention is a relatively thickapertured member or washer formed of soft, tacky, cold-flow, extrudable sealing material of a composition tobe hereinafter specified. The plasticity of thesealing member is such that it will maintain its washer-like shape under normal conditions of'handling, but under pressure will cold-flow with permanent deformation. The devices which are to be fastened with the aid of the washer are preferably composed of one held member having a relatively small opening adjacent vthe head of a bolt or the like which is to'act as a fastener. The other held member has a relatively larger opening over which the thick washer is placed,

and the soft washer preferably snugly ,fits the bolt.

Between the soft washer and the nut is a metal washer on the bolt which'is larger in diameter than the soft Washer. When the nut is screwed down, it forces the large metal washer against the smaller, thicker, coldfiow washer, tending to force it first into said larger opening to in-fill the space around the bolt. The thickness of the soft washer supplies sufiicient extrudable material for the above purpose and for flowbut to the edge of the metal washer as a flashing to indicate a good seal. The soft washer is of a consistency that the metal washer may be driven into metal-to-metal contact around the relatively larger opening, forcing its way through the the. above results. Broadly, the plasticity of the sealing material is approximately that which can .be handmolded. The cold-flow characteristic of the material permits extrusion of the material from between members forced into interfacial contact. The material is also tacky to facilitate adherence and sealing action. For convenient storage and handling before application, nonadhesive facings are provided on the washer-like sealing mem her which are of a nature to disappear during application. The materialis also made impervious to air andmoisture.

Thus among the objects of the invention are the provision of an economical and convenient washer member adapted for sealing an opening in a body through which 2 extends a stem-like member; and the provision of a member of the class described which will result in a rigid rather than resilient fastening wherein the seal is sub stantially unaffected by the stresses on the fastener. Other objects will be in part apparent and in part pointed out hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the products hereinafter described, the scope of the invention being indicated in the following claim.

In the accompanying drawings, in which several of various possible embodiments of the invention are-illustrated,

Fig. l is a top plan view of the washer of this invention, with a protective part partially peeled away;-

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a cross section of a bolt to which the sealing member of the invention is applied and showing the first of a frangible parting material.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown a seal-.

ing member 1 comprising a relatively thick washer formed of soft, tacky, extrudable sealing material 3 and provided with discrete nonadhesive faces 5 and 6 composed For this purpose there may be used a thin porous material, such as fragile tissue paper; or the faces may be dusted with a thin film of talcum powder or the like. The sealing material 3 has a plasticity of an order permitting molding by'hand,

but is sufficiently stiff to maintain its washer-like shape under normal handling. Also, the material is relatively inelastic compared to vulcanized rubber. When subjected even to small stress, the sealing material cold flows with permanent deformation and adheres to surfaces which it engages. The use of this sealing member is described in connection with a bolt that fastens together a pair of plates, although the member may be'usedto seal around any stem-like elements extending through openings in any bodies to be fastened. g

Referring to Fig. 3, there is shown a body 7 in the form of a flat rigid metal plate, which is to .be fastened to another plate 9 by means of a bolt 11. The bolt has a threaded stem 13 extending through and projecting from suitable openings 15 and 17 in the plates 7 and 9, respectively. Opening 15 is larger thano-pening 17. Be-

tween the stem 13 and plates 7 and 9 are voids 19. The.

sealing member 1 snugly fits the stem 13 of the bolt. One face 5 engages the plate 7. A fiat apertured member 21, which may be a conventional rigid metal washer or fastener element, is applied to the stem 13 to surround the stem and engage the other face 6 of the sealing member. It is larger in diameter than opening 15. The inside diameter of a metal washer usually is in. greater than.

the outside diameter of the bolt. It is desirable for the sealing member to have a close fit with the bolt, in order to. facilitate sealing action, and the plastic property of the sealing member permits it to be fitted over the bolt even where the fit is close. In some instances, however, it is washer 21 should be larger than the outside diameter of the sealing member 1, so that the former overlaps the latter. The thickness and outside diameter of the sealing member are primarily determined by the amount of sealing material required to filLvoids between the stem 13 and plates 7 and 9. In a standardized set of sealing members, the inside diameter might vary in steps of in., the outside diameter might be as in. greater than the inside diameter, and a choice of thicknesses of in. or /s in. might be provided.

Fig. 3 illustrates the assembly of parts with a threaded fastener element or nut 23 threaded lightly down upon the metal washer 21. As thenut is screwed down further, the plate 7 and metal washer 21are forced together with squeezing effect upon the sealing member 1 therebetween. The material 3 of the sealing member is relatively incompressible as compared to its ready tendency to flow, hence a cold extrusion of the material 3 results (Fig. 4). The cxtrudable sealing material is forced from between members 7 and 21, and into the voids 19 around the stem 13 of the bolt. Much of the flow of sealing material is inward, because the portions of members 7 and 21 that overlap the sealing member offer initial resistance to outward flow of the sealing material;

As shown in Figs. 5 and 6, the rigid metal washer 21 is finally forced into a metal-to-metal or interfacial engagement 25 with the rigid metal plate 7, and -substan tially all of the material 3 is forced from between these fiat rigid members 7 and 21. This inter-facial engagement of the members 7 and 2]. permits a rigid fastening of the head 27 of the bolt 11 is substantially prevented by the plates 7 and 9. The nut 23 may thus be tightened to provide as tight a fastening as would be possible withoutv the sealing member. Ordinarily, the surfaces of members 7 and 21 will not be accurately flat and smooth, hence some sealing material may remain to fill the irregularities between these surfaces, while other substantial portions of the surfaces are in direct contactto provide a rigid fastening. It will be understood that the surface irregularities shown in Fig. 6 are merely intended to be those inherent in typical commercial structural members and fastener elements. 7

The sealing material 3 offers inappreciable resistance to threading down the nut, and the increase in torque rea sealing' member is slight, being of the order of four ounce-inches in a normal case; I

The featurethat the member lhas substantial coldflowchar-acteristics without substantial resilience is important, since it allows the stated face-to-facecdntact between the washer and a member such as 7, besides the extrusive in-filling around the threads of the bolt 11. With ordinary sealing washers composed of resilient material such as rubbena sealed and tight fastening may be obtained for some time, but ultimately it will deteriorate as the material loses its resiliency and takes a set. The ordinary result then is both leakage and a loose joint. By means of the present invention the material of the member 1 does not ccnttribute at all to the reactions which hold the joint night, since it is squeezed out almost entirely from between the faces of 21 and 7. The entire holding reaction is thus due to the metal-to-metal contact between the members 21 and 7, and this reaction never deteriorates, whether or not the sealing material takes a set.

The head 27 of the bolt 11 and the nut 23 confine the flow of sealing material along the bolt, and thus determine the voids 19 into which the sealing material may flow;

washer. This lip acts as a signal that the joint is in-filled and that a proper size of sealing member is being used.

Extrusion to a point beneath the nut 25 or benea h th high frictional resistance presented to such flow.

In the extrusion process, the thin porous faces 5 and 6 on the sealing member are mashed and largely absorbed, so that the sealing material comes into direct contact with and adheres to the metal surfaces, with no intervening' tissue. Thus, the soft, tacky extrudable sealing material not only fills the voids, but also adheres to the surfaces defining these voids.

Fig. 7 illustrates a metal washer 29 having a generally conical rather than fiat shape. It is applied over the sealing member with the outer rim 31 thereof directed downward. The degree of deformation of the washer 29 from the flat shape need not be great, and may be that obtained inherently from stamping metal washers. The advantage of a conical-shaped washer is that flow of the sealing material 3 toward the center is better enforced. The flow of sealing compound for the Fig. 7

embodiment is otherwise the same as that described heretofore. Fig. 7 illustrates the conical washer 29. as only partially flattened out, although it will be understood that the washer is finally practically flattened in order to provide the most rigid fastening.

As pointed out above, the sealing material 3 of the sealing member 1 has certain physical characteristics. The material is impervious to air, dust and moisture in order to be an effective sealing medium, and is tacky so that it adheres to the members which are to be sealed. Also,

the material is readily extruded in order to fill voids v 40 quired to thread'do'wn the nut over that required without which are to be sealed, the elasticity of the material being sufficiently low to permit cold flow. A slight elasticity is not objectionable so long as it does not interfere with the primary extrusion properties of the material. Finally, the material should not deteriorate over very long periods.

A material from which sealing members of the present invention are formed is made of the following components: Parts by weight Filler-carbon black of the semi-reinforcing furnace type (obtainable under the trade-name Thermax) 2.9 Fillerpulverized tree bark, 28 mesh (obtainable under the trade-name 508 Silvacon) 11.6

. Filler-pulverized tree bark, 100 mesh (obtainable under the trade-name 490 Silvacon) 11.6

This material was tested for plasticity and consistency and according to the standard ASTM (American Society for Testing Materials) D5-49 test for bituminous materials it gave a needle penetration of 3.5 mm. at 77 0% to 15% while the other two fillers may be varied Both the elastomer between to 30%. Also, any polyisobutylene having a molecular weight between 7000 to 15,000 is suitable.

The above material is formed into the described washer-like sealing members and the nonadhesive facings 5 adhered thereto. These facings may be of porous tissue paper, or of a similar nature, their principal purpose being to prevent several stacked sealing members from adhering to one another or to the hands of a user. But

' they must be of a nature such as to disintegrate under pressure, the resulting particles to be engulfed or surrounded by the plastic material during cold flow.

In conclusion, the invention features the provision of a sealing member in the shape of a relatively thick washer formed of soft flowable material which in use is placed over a bolt or the like and'between a pair of relatively rigid apertured plates and compressed thereby to cause the sealing material to flow around the bolt and completely seal it within the apertured plates. It will be understood that metal washers such as shown in Figs. 36 need not be employed, but that the sealing member may be placed between two structural members, such as 9 and 11. Also, the fastener need not be a bolt but may be any other type of similar fastener, such as a screw, rivet or the like, the important feature being that the metal plates be brought into .interfacial contact, with the sealing material substantially forced from between the plates so that the material does not carry the stress on the fastening required for keeping it tight.

Cross reference is made to my copending divisional application Serial No. 315,397, filed October 17, 1952, now U. S. Patent 2,718,691 issued September 27, 1955, entitled Method of Scaling, covering the sealing method disclosed herein.

In view of the above, it will be seen that the several objects of the invention are achieved and other advantageous results attained.

As various changes could be made in the above products without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall 'be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

. I claim:

A scaling member for use with a fastener such as a screw fastener, comprising a washer formed of -a soft, tacky, extrudable sealing material having such plasticity that it maintains its shape under normal handlingbut which will cold-flow under pressure with permanent deformation, with the flow characteristic of the sealing material such as to permit cold extrusion thereof into voids around a fastener and from between metal parts that are forced together by the fastener, said sealing material consisting of approximately 8.4 parts by weight of a copolymer of butadiene and styrene containing 23.5% styrene, 8.4 parts by weight of polyisobutylene having an average molecular weight of approximately 11,000, 56.8 parts by weight of blown asphalt having an MP of 240 and an NP of 2.5 mm., 0.3 parts by weight of trimethyl dihydroxy quinoline, and 26.1 parts by weight of filler.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,056,010 Dailey Mar. 18, 1913 1,329,558 Strauss Feb. 3, 1920 1,339,599 Garren May 11, 1920 1,515,996 Buchanan Nov. 18, 1924 1,881,439 Fischer Oct. 11, 1932 1,942,489 Piferle I an. 9, 1934 2,119,280 Kronquest et al. May 31, 1938 2,140,672 Gray et al Dec. 20, 1938 2,162,687 Fischer June 13, 1939 2,368,380 Ruzicka Jan. 30, 1945 2,382,245 McCormack Aug. 14, 1945 2,438,472 Calcott Mar. 23, 1948 2,535,869 Schneider et al. Dec. 30, 1950 2,639,832 Bergstrom May 26, 1953 2,697,873 Cooke Dec. 28, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 510,765 Germany Oct. 23, 1930 OTHER REFERENCES Vanderbilt Rubber Handbook (1948), pages 194-205. (Copy Div. 50.)

Thiokol Facts, vol. 1, No. 5, received June 18, 1948, page 3. (Copy in Div. 50.)

Thiokol Facts, vol. 1, No. 15, received June 18, 1948, page 3. (Copy in Div. 50.)

Thiokol-Synthetic Rubber and Chemicals, received June 3, 1946, pages 8 and 9. Copy in Div. 50.) 

